1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an ink composition for ink jet recording.
2. Background Art
Various properties are required of ink compositions for ink jet recording. For example, ink compositions for ink jet recording should provide a print on various recording media without bleeding. In order to prevent bleeding, various ink compositions have hitherto been proposed in the art (for example, Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 2907/1990, 15542/1989 and 3837/1990).
Furthermore, a proposal has been made on the prevention of bleeding through an improvement in penetration of an ink composition. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,156,675 discloses an ink composition containing diethylene glycol monobutyl ether. U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,502 discloses an ink composition containing a surfactant. U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,056 discloses an ink composition containing diethylene glycol monobutyl ether and a surfactant. Diethylene glycol monobutyl ether is called "butylcarbitol" and disclosed in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,291,580. U.S. Pat. No. 2,083,372 discloses an ink composition containing diethylene glycol ether.
According to the above ink compositions, although bleeding can be prevented to some extent, an ink composition, which is less likely to cause bleeding, has been desired in the art.
In recent years, recycled paper has become used from the viewpoint of environmental protection. The recycled paper comprises components of various types of paper. Thus, penetration of an ink composition into the recycled paper varies from component to component, which results in bleeding in the print. In order to prevent bleeding in the recycled paper, a method has been proposed wherein recording paper is heated at the time of printing. In,this method, however, a certain period of time is required for the paper to be heated to a predetermined temperature. Furthermore, power consumption becomes high, which is not cost-effective. Moreover, there is a fear of the recording paper and print being deteriorated by heating.
The ink composition for ink jet recording should satisfy further property requirements including that it should provide a good print density and a long intermittent printing time and be stable and less likely to clogging of nozzles.